May 16, 2012 by Terence LEE
SPRING Singapore, a government organization dedicated to growing the country’s economy, issued a terse statement yesterday denouncing Interesting Mart, an online reseller of IT goods, for misusing its logo and name and that of its subsidiary, SPRING SEEDS Capital. Read more
May 10, 2012 by Terence LEE
Frenzoo, a Hong Kong-based startup that has developed a series of 3D lifestyle and fashion games targeted at girls, has raised US$1M in seed funding from investors in Asia, Europe, and the United States.
Investors include: Efficient Corporate, the investment vehicle of Hong Kong-based angel investor Tytus Michalski; Siemer Ventures, an early-stage, cross-border venture firm with offices in Los Angeles and Asia; K5 Ventures, a pan Europe and Asia-based group focused on media and commerce; and Metaverse Services, a China-based leader in game content creation.
Existing investor Ambient Sound Investments, an early stage venture firm backed by the founding engineers of Skype, has also participated in this round. Read more
May 9, 2012 by Guest Contributor
This article was republished with permission from the author’s blog.
Andreessen Horowitz recently revealed that its investment of US$250K in Instagram became $78 million. Thats a multiple of 312. Investing in early stage ventures is indeed very rewarding yet inherently risky. It thrives on multiple high risk bets out of which one or more would achieve high rewards.
But that certainly does not mean putting blind bets on anything that comes your way. Those who believe in “Spray and Pray” kind of investing are often losers in the long term.
Most VCs through their experience would have developed some sort of an internal braincloud (mental) checklist which gets ticked during the pitching sessions. Relying on mental checklists again is risky. Some or more of those check points might get sidelined if the idea falls into one of the soft spots of the more influential team members.
So how can venture capital funds systematically mitigate undue risks?
Here is a list of risks inherent in Venture investing along with practical risk mitigation strategies and if needed a ‘Jugaad’. Jugaad is a colloquial Indian term that means a creative idea, or a quick workaround to get through commercial, logistic or law issues. Read more
May 8, 2012 by Terence LEE
[a•mo•bee] Acquires Adjitsu – 3D Mobile Ads from Amobee on Vimeo.
Amobee, a US-based digital advertising company owned by SingTel, has announced today the acquisition of AdJitsu, the standalone 3D mobile advertising business unit of Cooliris.
This purchase enables Amobee to leverage on AdJitsu’s technology to create greater innovation in 3D mobile ads. Amobee will also collaborate with ad networks, premium publishers, brands and agencies to create 3D ad units. Read more
May 7, 2012 by SGE
The Bootcamp is a technology startup accelerator program in Singapore (part of the Global Accelerator Network) where participants build a prototype within 100 days. Demo Day was on 4th May, 2012.
May 7, 2012 by SGE
The Bootcamp is a technology startup accelerator program in Singapore (part of the Global Accelerator Network) where participants build a prototype within 100 days. Demo Day was on 4th May, 2012.
Edgar Hardless, CEO of SingTel Innov8
April 30, 2012 by Terence LEE
ShopSpot, the Singapore-based incubatee of the JFDI-Innov8 2012 Bootcamp, has annouced today that they have received funding of an undisclosed amount from a group of angels and entrepreneurs in Thailand, led by Kris Nalamlieng.
The company received the investment in the midst of the 100-day inaugural bootcamp. ShopSpot aims to make “selling stuff as easy as sending a tweet” (see SGE’s app feature). Since launch, they have garnered over 1,500 downloads on the iOS. Within 12 hours, the app reached number five in its category on iTunes.
“The cash element of this investment will allow us to focus on shaping the great user experience that will make ShopSpot a leading force in mobile commerce worldwide,” said Natsakon Kiatsuranon, co-founder and CEO of ShopSpot. Read more
April 27, 2012 by Terence LEE
Kark Mobile Education, an incubatee at Singapore’s first ever JFDI-Innov8 Bootcamp, announced that they have received funding of an undisclosed sum from Ideosource, a Jakarta-based investment firm.
The startup, started by four Indonesians, is developing a series of education collectible card games that interact with companion mobile apps. The edutainment platform is targeted at kids 5-12 years old (see SGE’s feature of Kark).
The funding will go towards the development of those products.
“We are delighted to have this support, which gives us the ability to continue building our product after the bootcamp and reinforces what we have believed all along– that games have a great future in the educational industry,” says Bullitt Sesariza, founder and CTO of Kark. Read more
April 19, 2012 by Terence LEE
Neoteny Labs, a Singapore-based tech startup incubator, has announced that they are leading a seed funding round in ImpulseFlyer, a private sale platform for luxury and boutique hotels.
The company is co-founded by Steven Gong, who is the CEO, and Andy Croll, the CTO. Steven had previous experience in the online travel industry and consultancy fields, while Andy has worked as a developer and consultant prior to joining the startup. Read more
April 5, 2012 by Terence LEE
Startup incubator Kickstart has launched in the Philippines last month, part of a recent spate of new accelerators that have set up shop in the country. It is now calling for submissions for startups who want to receive an investment.
Christian Besler, the incubator’s vice-president and community engagement head, bills Kickstart as “the only Incubator in the Philippines with existing strong ties to the local grassroot community.”
Explaining this, he says that Kickstart was part of the team that organized last year’s StartupWeekend Manila, the first such event in the country. Read more
